Can't Live Without Him
by Starry-Night Dreamer
Summary: Lily Evans and James Potter NEVER got along but when James disappears for over a week Lily realizes just how much he add to her life. And that might just be the first step in a relationship that could last a lifetime.


_**Hey Everyone! This is my first ever fanfic and I'm so excited about it! I hope you enjoy it! And if you didn't, well it's not dent in my ego! Disclaimer: I own nothing so sue someone else if you hate it**_

_Can't Live Without Him__: Chapter 1: Polka-Dots and Death _

"POTTER!" Lily Evans screeched. "Get your arse over here so I can curse it into the next millennium!"

"A bit violent today, aren't we, Evans?" the tall, black haired Sirius Black asked from a few feet away. He smirked as he glanced her over. Green and pink had taken over her hair and her skin had been magically painted with purple polka-dots.

"I know you took part in this too!" Lily pointed her wand at Sirius. "_Lustuvia_!" she yelled and Sirius' hair, skin, and clothes turned bright rainbow colors.

"What the h—" Sirius exclaimed looking down at himself.

"Change me back right now, and I'll take away the jinx and won't cause any harm."

"Oh, I'm terrified," Sirius said sarcastically. He reached for his wand.

"Don't even think about it or you can forget about me not stupyfing you right now. Reverse it now!"

"Sorry, Lilykins, I don't know how," Sirius sneered.

After cursing loudly, Lily did the body bind curse on him.

"Oo, Miss Evans has a potty mouth," the unmistakable voice of James Potter said from behind Lily.

"I can see that you're not as cowardly as I thought," Lily turned to face him. She frowned when saw that an earlier spell had not done her justice. Only a tail and small, rounded ears on top of his head showed that she had attempted to turn him into a mouse. Each had their wands pointed at the other. "Change me back now," Lily seethed through gritted teeth.

"You know, I don't think I will." The unruly haired sixteen-year-old smiled wickedly.

"I would if I were you, you'll probably end up in worse condition than Mr. Tie-Dye Guy over here."

James stole a glance at his rainbow colored, lifeless friend. The only thing moving were his eyes.

"I might reverse it if you go out with me." He flashed a brilliant smile that dared her to go on.

"Not if you were the la—"

"Miss. Evans, Mr. Potter! Lower your wands this instant!" The strict voice of Professor McGonagall interrupted their argument. Each student put down their wands but kept glaring at each other. "I would have expected better of you, Lily." Lily bowed her head shamefully. "I cannot say the same about you, Mr. Potter." Professor McGonagall undid Sirius and marched them up to the headmaster's office without undoing any of the curses.

"I was hoping we could avoid accidents like this the rest of this year, but seems I was mistaken," Professor Dumbledore said looking each of them over carefully.

The three convicts, now back to their original states, sat in chairs across from him. Lily looked at her hands, James looked slightly angered as he stared at the headmaster, Sirius slouched in his seat looking bored, and Professor McGonagall stood off to the side, disappointed in the students of her own house.

Dumbledore sighed. "You will each have two days of detention and points will be deducted from Gryffindor. You are dismissed."

Lily was the first one out the door and she was nearly to the portrait hole when James caught up to her.

"This is your fault!" She said to him as soon as she realized that he was following her closely. Lily's hands were balled in fists at her side as James took a few steps forward. "This is all your fault!" she whispered loudly as she pulled out her wand and put it to his heart.

James glared down at her, seeing the anger in her eyes at a tear formed in the corner of one.

"How is it _my_ fault, Evans?"

"If you are weren't so—"

"So what? What am I that makes this my fault?" James sneered.

Lily pushed harder at her wand. "So impossible!" she breathed in his face then spun around, purposely letting her long red hair smack him in the face.

- - - - - - -

"What was it about this time?" Lily's best friend Alidia (uh lid EE uh) Denver asked exasperatedly.

"What was what about?" Lily questioned falling onto her bed.

"You know what about? What was it with James Potter, tonight?"

"Oh, you know the usual . . ." Lily trailed off not wanting to talk about it.

"What's the usual?" Alice Prewett asked from the bathroom of the dormitory. "You two are always arguing about something different. Or if it is always the same then you're always going about arguing it differently."

"Never mind," Lily sighed and walked to the bathroom that Alice had just exited.

"Lils, what's wrong? We'd be horrible friends if we didn't know what was going on and didn't at least try to help." Alidia walked up behind her.

"I got two days of detention." Lily hung her head as she admitted the cause for her sadness.

"No!" Alice gasped slightly. "What'd you do? You've never gotten detention before."

"Well I've never been caught cursing them before. But I gave Potter," she spat out his name, "a mouse tail and ears, and I turned Black rainbow colored and body-bound him."

"I would have loved to see that!" Alidia exclaimed.

"Seen what?" one of the two other Gryffindor sixth years girls asked, entering the room.

Bella and Belinda Talon were by far the most mysterious students at Hogwarts. The twins had thin black hair that framed their pale faces and their eyes were just about as dark as their hair. The only seeable differences between the two were that the roots of Bella's hair were blue and the roots of Belinda's hair were red. They didn't hang out with anyone but themselves and when they wanted to find out something they always got their answer.

"Um, James with mouse ears," Alidia answered as simply as possible without telling a lie.

"Yes," Bella answered in her sickly-sweet voice, "that would be hysterical." The twins smiled their stomach-churning smiles and walked past the trio further into the bathroom.

Alidia mouthed 'We'll talk later' to Lily and got in bed.

As the rest of the school slept Lily lay awake not able to sleep because of the detention she had received. She should have known getting into arguments with the notorious James Potter was one day going to get her in trouble.

Lily glanced at a battery powered clock she had brought from home. 12:32. She stood up, wanting to sit in front of the fire in the common room.

"Where are you going?" the voice of one of the twins asked through the darkness just as Lily reached the door.

She turned to see that it was Belinda talking to her.

"Downstairs," Lily replied.

"Do you mind if I came with you?"

Even though Lily didn't want company she answered tiredly, "No, I don't mind."

Belinda got up from her bed and accompanied her downstairs.

"Can't sleep?" she asked as she sat on the couch and Lily snuggled into an armchair.

"No. You?" Lily didn't look up from the fire.

"We don't sleep much."

"Oh."

"Yeah, Daddy says we have vampire in out blood and that's why."

"Ah."

The two sat in silence for about ten minutes before Belinda spoke again. "I don't see how you find this entertaining," she said. With that she stood up and walked out of the portrait hole in to the Hogwarts halls.

Eventually Lily fell asleep in the chair listening and watching the crackling flames dance in the fireplace.

- - - - - - -

James groaned as the annoying tapping noise persisted. It was then that he realized that the noise was not happening in his dream.

"What the heck?" he moaned and saw that an owl was at the window. Grumpily, James got up to shut the bird up. He opened the window, took the letter it had in its beak, and slammed the window in the owl's face.

His stomach turned as he read the address. It was for him. _Who would contact me in the middle the night?_ He thought to himself. Curious and very worried he ripped open the envelope and read the letter.

What he read made his knees weaken. James fell to the floor and reread the words skillfullywritten across the paper. They hadn't changed.

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_I apologize for the late hour but an urgent matter has sprung up on us, unexpectedly. An accident has taken place involving your parents and death eaters. Your father was regrettably killed and your mother was injured badly and is currently receiving emergency attention at St. Mungo's. I'm sorry for your loss, I knew your father personally. A great man, he was. _

_Signed, David Bradden, Minister of Magic _

No, this couldn't be happening! A lump grew in James' throat. He balled up the letter, threw it across the room, and ran for the door.

He fell down the stairs, but he didn't care. Nothing mattered, not now. His dad was gone, his mom injured badly, nothing else could happen that would make him feel any worse.

He stayed in a mangled heap on the floor, sobbing, for five minutes before dragging himself to a chair. He hadn't noticed Lily sitting near him.

Lily watched him intently for a while then closed her eyes and decided to do nothing. She wondered what could put him, James pigheaded git Potter, in such a state.

James heard the fire hiss loudly. Looking up at it, he noticed Lily sitting in an armchair, apparently asleep. James noted that she looked beautiful as she slept and as the light from the flames danced on her skin and hair. As the light flickered across her face, James thought of how peaceful she looked, content, and at ease with nothing to worry about. He knew this was wrong, of course. He knew that her parents were muggles and that she worried about their safety everyday, but not right then. Right then she was in her own fantasy world, away from fear and death.

_**Well that's it for the first Chapter! I would love to know your opinion and if you had any suggestions!**_

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o Starry-Night Dreamer

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